Wanna hear a funny story?

A while back, I tried a little experiment with my email list. This was back when I decided to stop being an email “generalist” and instead focus on working JUST with eCommerce brands.

My email list was a lot smaller back then.

Back then, I’d check out who joined my list each day… and I’d see if I recognized any “comapny name” URLS. Meaning: people who didn’t have an @gmail email address… but instead one from a business name.

I remember seeing someone sign up to my list with an @beckettsimonon.com email address.

And, I got a little excited.

This was a brand I’d heard a lot about. I was flattered that someone from the company would sign up for my email list.

Who woulda thunk it… lil ol’ me!

Anyway…

Around the same time, I was trying to bring some new clients into my business. And I figured… why not write a really great email with an offer that might be perfect for the guy from this company who was on my list.

Made sense, right?

So, instead of me writing an email about some random bullshit – like I do most days – I tired my hardest to “enter the conversation in my prospect’s mind” and craft an email that I was SURE would hit all this guy’s pain points… and paint a picture of what would happen if we wound up working together.

I whipped up the email.

Sent it off to my list of about 1,000 subscribers.

And…

I waited.

A few hours later I checked my stats.

And they were actually pretty good!

I got great response from my readers, who at that point were mostly other copywriters.

But I noticed I got one unsubscribe.

When I clicked to see who it was… I laughed out loud.

It was the @beckettsimonon.com email address.

THE ONE FUCKING PERSON I WROTE THAT EMAIL FOR WAS THE GUY FROM BECKETT SIMONON… AND HE UNSUBBED FROM MY LIST!!!

lol

Obviously, I don’t care.

It’s not a big deal.

I just thought it was funny, more than anything else. I leaned into that sage old advice of “enter the convo in your prospects mind” and “write to the ONE person you want to sell to”…and it backfired quite brilliantly.

Anyways…

I thought this would be a funny way to start off this particular edition of Email of the Week because today… we’re going to look at a really awesome email from Beckett Simonon.

From what I’ve seen, they have a very strong email marketing game. And today, we’re going to break that down.

So…

Without further ado…

Let’s dive into this week’s Email of the Week!

This is the 38th installment of my Email of the Week series. (Catch up on previous episodes here.)

And in case you’re new around here, here’s how this all works…

The Rules For Email Of The Week

Each week, I go out into the wild to find a super-effective e-commerce marketing email… and I break down what made it work. My goal is for you to tune in each week, so I can teach you strategies and best practices YOU can use to make your own emails better.

I find these emails in my inbox, but I also accept suggestions from readers who have a remarkable email they’d like to share.

If you recently received an email that was so awesome it made your jaw drop, I wanna see it.

Forward it to me (chris at theemailcopywriter dot com) with a brief message about what you liked about it. If I choose to do a breakdown of the email you sent, I’ll give you a shout out and link to your site.

The only rule is… you can’t pick yourself.

Now then, without further ado, let’s check out the Email of the Week!

I Feel Vindicated

If you look around the world of eCommerce email marketing, most brands rely on ‘image-heavy’ emails. This is especially true in fashion/apparel.

Personally…

I’ve found that emails with more text and less design tend to do better in just about every single market.

That’s why I love when big brands prove my point.

The email we’re going to look at today from Beckett Simonon is almost entirely plain text, with NO picture of the product they’re selling.

I thought it was pretty cool.

Let’s take a look and see why this strategy is so effective…

Subject line: Super Impressive…

I like the subject line.

Two words.

Clean. Simple. Draws you in with curiosity.

Plus, everyone wants to look impressive, right? Bit of an implied benefit there.

I’d love to see it lower-cased instead of title-casing… but whatever. All good.

Let’s get into the body…

 

I’m kind of digging how they refer to this as their VIP newsletter. Makes me feel special, even if there are tens of thousands of people on it with me.

In our world, feelings are more important than facts. So this makes people feel good.

The intro starts off asking three questions that it’s almost impossible to say ‘no’ to.

This is a great technique.

Is someone really going to say “Actually good sir… LOATHE comfortable shoes.”

Of course not.

So they pace you and lead you through the intro, in only a few lines of copy.

I guess this is Invoking a bit of Cialdini’s consistency/congruency principle.

If you say “yes” to those questions at the beginning, I bet you’re more likely to buy the shoes they’re presenting to you. After all… you DO want to stay consistent with the self-image you have of yourself, right?

Of course you do.

That’s just how our brains work.

After that first sentece, they actually pack a lot of good copy/psychological principles into the remaining sentences of that block.

Not only are they framing a problem in your mind… they’re also beginning to further cement their brand’s positioning.

Plus, they’re also shifting your beliefs a little bit there, too.

Just because you bought a nice pair of shoes doesn’t mean they’re going to be comfortable.

Let’s continue…

 

So in this block, they build upon the “framing the problem & belief shifting” they were doing in the first block.

And you see they transition from framing the problem to introducing the solution… the product they wanna sell: their Reid Sneakers.

I do think they’d benefit from reading this copy out loud to smooth out that introductory sentence. But they’re probably moving fast – just like I do with my own emails – so I can’t fault them for a tad bit of wonkiness.

I do like how they loop in that testimonial. I think that’s an effective strategy.

Ideally, we’d have a customer’s real name here… or at least something like “Chris O. from NJ” or whatever.

Pmrp is definitely a screen name or something like that. I don’t think it detracts from the message tho, so it’s fine.

What I do love about the testimonial they chose to include here was they picked someone who mentioned that they had TWO pairs.

That’s some 4d chess right there.

Always seed the idea of buying more… and demonstrate WHY it makes sense to buy more.

That is fucking solid strategy.

Very smart.

Let’s keep going…

This email almost reads like a mini sales letter… and I kinda dig that.

This part expands on the features and dimensionalizes the benefits a bit.

I love that last line.

It punctuates this feature blocks and tells you how to think about all the information that just went into your brain.

 

In this block, that first sentence further dimensionalizes the benefits.

Then they launch right into another powerful testimonial from a happy customer.

Then, they issue a CTA and unpack the details of the offer. You know the price, how to lock in your discount, and the deadline.

Clean and simple.

Overall… this is a very well done email.

And not a product picture in sight.

This is about 1,000x more effective than just putting a picture of a shoe in an email and putting a “shop now” button underneath it.

Do you see what I’m saying here?

COPY is what sells, not design.

Great job Beckett Simonon.

This was an awesome email.

Keep kickin ass.

Special Shout Out to Barron Cuadro

Barron Cuadro sent me this email to review. In case you don’t know Barron, he’s a great dude.

He runs a men’s style site called https://effortlessgent.com. He also has a Youtube channel where he posts a lot of great content that helps guys dress sharp and feel confident no matter where they’re headed.

I thought Barron offered some great analysis to what made this email so great. Here’s what he said:
Hey man,
Happy Saturday!
Do you follow Beckett Simonon by chance?
They’re a DTC shoe brand, relatively affordable pricing, high quality, good looking, classic shoe styles.
They’re the only fashion brand I’ve seen who writes sales emails in the style you suggest. Like, an actual human writing a note to a friend.
Part educational, part witty, part sales… I think they’re pretty good compared to a lot of other brands’ emails.
(ie most brands’ emails are just an image, no words, SHOP NOW button… or “sale sale sale 70% off shop now” ZzZzzzz)
Anyway, just wanted to fwd one of their emails along in case it’s interesting to you.
-Barron
I totally agree with Barron.
It’s definitely educational. Definitely personal. And definitely ticks all the salesmanship for an email that sells.
Thanks for submitting this Barron.
And if you’re not following Barron… do that now!

Big Takeaways from Beckett Simonon’s Email

  1. Plain text > heavy design.
  2. Pace, then lead.
  3. Invoke Cialdini’s principle of consistency/comittment.
  4. Position your brand’s products in a category of their own.
  5. Frame the problem first.
  6. Then, lead them to the solution.
  7. Good copy replaces the need for a lot of pictures.
  8. Dimensionalize your benefits.
  9. Let your customers sell your products for you, by using their own words.
  10. Issue a strong, clear call to action.

What You Should Do Next

  1. Subscribe to my email list so you can get ALL of the Emails of the Week delivered straight to your inbox, automatically.
  2. Leave a comment for me below and let me know what you liked about this email.
  3. Buy some shoes from Beckett Simonon. They have a cool brand and a really cool mission. Plus, their emails are great!

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